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HelpRe: Reese
in reply to a message by RDNZL
I'm feeling mostly indifferent too.
The spelling Reese for a guy's first name looks a little bit oversimple to me, like Emmalee for Emily. As though Rhys was too difficult. Reese is a surname to me, more than it's an alt spelling of Rhys. I grew up friends with a girl whose surname was Reiss pronounced as Reese so the surname association is strong.
Reese is also the spelling that most reliably indicates a girl, to me. So (maybe partly due to Witherspoon and candy) it has a sort of bubblegum vibe, not quite childish. Probably the opposite of what's intended when a girl is named Reese.
It seems like any surnamey girl name - like it's supposed to sound preppy, smart, sporty, and it was always assumed she would always be very bright and active and cute. Reese, Piper, Harper, Murphy, Taylor, Hadley, Spencer etc - to me they would only seem as smart and put-together as they seem to strive at sounding, on a woman who actually was being very smart and put-together. If the bearer is typical and average like most people are, not at her sparkling best every moment, these names don't seem so flattering, to me. I feel like they're slightly put-on or fake, like a wig, or badly tattooed eyebrows - inoffensive, sometimes seeming very stylish, but often a little bit pathetic ... just not good enough to be a personal first name. I feel similarly about many surname-names for guys too, not exactly the same but similar.
Fine, sure, it's my own problem. I wish I didn't feel this way about them, but ... I still do. More so about some than others ... I can adjust much faster to, say, Cassidy or McKenna or Sydney or Regan as first names for women, Mason and Lincoln and Wyatt and Hunter for men - because to me they just "sound more like first names."
I knew a guy my own age who was the father of g/b twins, Reese and Alex. I'm sure Reese was the girl, now. But I only met the children once in passing, as toddlers, so in conversation I was hesitant about which was the boy and which was the girl. I think I prefer it with Reese as the girl -- but I like Alex better as a girl's nickname, than I like Reese as a girl's first name. I'd rather have seen Rhys (b) and Alex (g).
Anyway Reese doesn't bother me and it doesn't seem particularly ugly, nor does it seem particularly better for boys or girls. I just feel a little disappointed in it.
- mirfak
The spelling Reese for a guy's first name looks a little bit oversimple to me, like Emmalee for Emily. As though Rhys was too difficult. Reese is a surname to me, more than it's an alt spelling of Rhys. I grew up friends with a girl whose surname was Reiss pronounced as Reese so the surname association is strong.
Reese is also the spelling that most reliably indicates a girl, to me. So (maybe partly due to Witherspoon and candy) it has a sort of bubblegum vibe, not quite childish. Probably the opposite of what's intended when a girl is named Reese.
It seems like any surnamey girl name - like it's supposed to sound preppy, smart, sporty, and it was always assumed she would always be very bright and active and cute. Reese, Piper, Harper, Murphy, Taylor, Hadley, Spencer etc - to me they would only seem as smart and put-together as they seem to strive at sounding, on a woman who actually was being very smart and put-together. If the bearer is typical and average like most people are, not at her sparkling best every moment, these names don't seem so flattering, to me. I feel like they're slightly put-on or fake, like a wig, or badly tattooed eyebrows - inoffensive, sometimes seeming very stylish, but often a little bit pathetic ... just not good enough to be a personal first name. I feel similarly about many surname-names for guys too, not exactly the same but similar.
Fine, sure, it's my own problem. I wish I didn't feel this way about them, but ... I still do. More so about some than others ... I can adjust much faster to, say, Cassidy or McKenna or Sydney or Regan as first names for women, Mason and Lincoln and Wyatt and Hunter for men - because to me they just "sound more like first names."
I knew a guy my own age who was the father of g/b twins, Reese and Alex. I'm sure Reese was the girl, now. But I only met the children once in passing, as toddlers, so in conversation I was hesitant about which was the boy and which was the girl. I think I prefer it with Reese as the girl -- but I like Alex better as a girl's nickname, than I like Reese as a girl's first name. I'd rather have seen Rhys (b) and Alex (g).
Anyway Reese doesn't bother me and it doesn't seem particularly ugly, nor does it seem particularly better for boys or girls. I just feel a little disappointed in it.
- mirfak
This message was edited 6/25/2018, 10:26 AM
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